On Jesse Walter’s first medical call, he helped restart a human heart. After 15 minutes of CPR and four shocks from a defibrillator, the 14-year-old got a pulse back. Afterward, one of the paramedics assisting Walters told him that children or teenagers going into cardiac arrest only happens a couple of times each year and they are rarely saved. Jesse Walter ‘21 is a pre-med student at Covenant. He is involved in the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) clinicals that are being offered this year as a part of the partnership with the Westbrow Fire Department.
Walter said of his first medical call, “It was definitely encouraging. A lot of what we learn in the EMT class is that it’s not always gonna go the best way possible. Going on to the scene I did not expect anything to come out of it because you don’t hear too much about cardiac arrest not ending in death...watching it unfold was really cool.”
For students looking for hands-on medical experience, the Fire and Rescue club is the way to go. It does not require previous medical schooling and as it is on a volunteer basis, it is less of a time commitment. Involvement in emergency calls consists of everything from hip pain complaints to a life or death situation.
The club works with Westbrow Fire Department’s volunteer program to involve students in both medical and fire assistance. The main goal of the partnership is to train students on campus and civilians on the mountain to easily respond to medical or fire emergencies.
Parker Simcox ’19, a former Covenant student, worked closely with the Westbrow Fire Department and is starting a firefighter and paramedic program in Gwinnett County, GA. He said, “The program is a cooperation and mutual understanding that is influenced by the students and the relationships themselves… students from Covenant work very closely with both Covenant and Westbrow as a mutual community benefit.”
Westbrow’s fire department offers weekly training on Thursday nights. They have also started a registered volunteer firefighter class which includes the building fire certification for the state of Georgia. Westbrow works with Dade County to have an Emergency Medical Technician class offered at Covenant for certification purposes. There are many Covenant students involved in their first responder program.
Simcox learned of the program through a friend, explaining, “It actually changed my career choice… I love every aspect of it. I recognize there's a lot of people who don’t… just try it out. Maybe you don’t love firefighting or running medical calls, but it looks fantastic on any resume to have certifications in a specific environment that allows you to deal directly with other people for the community.”
For Simcox, the Westbrow partnership was a path towards firefighting.
“You have to both apply your mind and body on the fire scene, and that’s one of the most intriguing elements for me. My first fire, we got paged out at 12:30 in the morning. It took us hours...Sometimes you know the fire is there and you can’t get to it,” he said.
The fire and medical compartments of Westbrow provide students with a practical, hands-on experience in both fields, pushing students outside their comfort zone while also teaching the documentation and checking off of boxes that come with the more routine aspects of the jobs. Each specific field has different benefits, but the people who are collectively a part of the Westbrow program for medical and fire response are learning practical life skills that are vital tools in any emergency situation.